Joy of Christ

With the first week of classes under my new college belt, it was nice to sit back, relax and have some fun. Together with some of my fellow seminarians, we threw a frisbee in the front courtyard of St. Joseph's, played basketball over at Loyola's student gym, jumped in Lake Michigan and buried one of our brothers in the sand. It was a lot of fun! Because our building is right across the street from one of the freshman dorms called Mertz Hall, we do get a lot of people passing by looking at us. Sometimes its fun to wave at them as they stare, occasionally inviting them to come over and play some frisbee and get to know us.

 Last night as we were leaving the gym, we decided to go and sing Salve Regina in front of a statue of Mary on campus, and asked a couple of girls who were walking behind us if they wanted to join. We told them that we were seminarians. The girls obviously didn't know what a seminarian was because one of them said, "Oh cool, my dad is one of the those." Needless to say, they didn't join us.

 

After praying, we all walked over to the lake and we plunged in together with our clothes still on. Some of the people on the beach probably thought we were crazy! I hope they do. I hope that they saw we are filled with the joy of Christ. I hope that they see that we are regular guys, that happen to be studying for one of the most extraordinary vocations  in the world. I pray that people will remain curious as to what St. Joseph's College Seminary is and will want to talk with us, come over for Mass and have dinner with us. We're not crazy, we just love God and want to glorify him by our lives.

Supporting Vocations to the Priesthood

It feels so strange to say I will be moving out of my house and moving in to St. Joseph College Seminary in Chicago in less than a week. I have been so blessed to meet so many great people over this summer and I am so grateful for their love, prayers and support. To know that I have the backing of my home parish, family, friends and complete strangers is an amazing feeling.

When I first started this blog, I had just got home from attending my second Seminary Summer Camp hosted by St. Francis De Sales Seminary in St. Francis, Wisconsin. I was on fire for the faith and wanted to share my experience with anyone who would listen. I was feeling confident that God was calling me to become a priest as I was entering into my sophomore year of high school. I began recording my thoughts, my prayers, my writings and the many events that I participated in. I became a team member of a major vocations website that had begun in England run by teens specifically for men thinking about the possibility of priesthood, writing prayers and reflections for the site. Because of the site, I had the opportunity to be interviewed on Relevant Radio about how I came into contact with the creator and founder of the website, John Howard who is now a seminarian in England.  It was a very exciting time in my life!

The biggest thing that I learned this summer is how important it really is to be involved in as many events as you can. Everything that you are able to participate in, gives you an opportunity to share your faith with others, network and meet new people as well as make great new friends. This summer I frequently visited a discernment house in Shorewood, WI which housed five young men who were discerning the priesthood. One of these men will be entering college seminary with me this Tuesday as a Junior. I got to know each of these men, prayed with them, shared my discernment story with them and let them know of my support. I felt it was only fair to offer not only my time, but also my prayers and support that I was so fortunate to receive as I was applying for seminary.

The point that I am trying to make in all of this is not to make myself look high and mighty, but to share with fellow seminarians and discerners that even after getting accepted to seminary our work is not done, but is only beginning. Besides going to classes and formation lessons, I feel it is so important to take the time to show discerning men how much you are praying for them and how much you support them as they continue discerning God's will for them. Having the support of seminarians and priests while I was discerning and even during applying to seminary gave me confidence and helped me to know that I had good friends that had confidence in me that I seemed capable of being a good priest. It is so important to pray for the future of our church and support them with our company and kindness.

Feelings

It seems that every time someone looks like they have everything together, does the right thing or seems holy beyond measure, it seems like at that moment that the Devil will come after you hard. He will try to tempt you, try to exploit your weaknesses, trying to get you to let go just once from God and what he wants you to do.

This is something that I'm sure everyone has experienced, and unfortunately its something that I'm going through right now. At this point in my life, I feel under attack, then again doesn't everyone feel this way once in a while? Still, this feeling really bothers me. It bothers me that people look at my blog, write to me asking for advice, telling me that I will make a great priest someday and look at me as someone who is surely on the right path. It bothers me that I write back emails answering questions, counseling fellow friends, trying to give away words of wisdom, all while I struggle with very same things. I feel like a complete hypocrite.

It's easy for me when things are going right to say: "Lord, give me a cross to carry, and let me bring others closer to you and lead by example," but then as soon as a little temptation hits me, I'm done and I give up. On the outside I may look like I persevere through temptation and sin but on the inside when no ones looking over my shoulder, at that moment, that's when I give in to temptation. People tell me that I am strong in my faith, but in honest truth, my faith is weak. The quote, "How do you live your life, when no one is watching?", makes me think of myself every single time.

This may seem like a dark and depressing blog post, probably one that many of you will pass over. Some of you maybe thinking to yourself, "He used to have strong faith, and now it looks like he is no longer faithful to God. He has lost all hope and trust." But isn't this true for all of us? Isn't this something that we all face? Everywhere we look there are distractions, traps, bad decisions and sometimes they do get the best of us, but the challenge is making sure that no matter what we do, no matter how far down in the dark we feel, that we still stretch out our hands toward Jesus and His loving mercy.

Jesus loves us no matter how many bad things we do or say, but its up to us to make an effort towards Him. If we even so much as take a step in God's direction, we know that He will run a million miles to where you stand. We all have ups and downs, we all have difficult challenges that we face, but no matter how many times we fall, no matter how many times we feel worthless and down and covered in sin, we must remember how important it is to get back up and continue on the path to forgiveness. Christ will meet us there, guaranteed.

Guest Post by John Orgovan

In my last post I mentioned that I would be posting guest posts from fellow seminary campers writing about their overall experience of camp this year and things that they participated in, that impacted their own discernment processes. Who better to start off the guest blogging than John Orgovan, a camper who has attended the camps for three years straight and was my roomate this year. I am so happy that he decided to write a post and perhaps try to stir up further interest in the Seminary camps. I am so grateful and so happy for his friendship.

" Seminary Camp has been an opportunity for me to truly "be me". This year's camp was amazing because we had a total of 22 guys! That is a huge step up from the first two years of the camp. Just getting to hangout with guys my age who share my faith is truly a blessing.

If any guys who have ever even wondered about the possiblity of priesthood are reading this, I really encourage them to get involved at their local seminary, become involved in your parish if you aren't already, and finally pray for an increase for vocations. Thank you Father Peter Berger, Susi Kurek, Deacon Ryan Pruess, and all the seminarians and staff for once again, making this summer camp one of the best experiences I have ever had."

-John Orgovan

Please pray for John and for all those who are discerning a call to the priesthood and for an increase in vocations.

" Conformation"

So many people today do not live as they should. They don't live like the people they were created to be by the Holy Father. Instead they get into their heads that they are not good enough as the person that they were created to be. They feel they are not cool enough, smart enough, strong enough or brave enough. So instead of being themselves they change or conform to others whom they feel fit into the so-called " empty-spots" in their lives.

They begin to very slowly change into this other person whom they consider greater than they are. They begin to change their clothes because they are " cooler" then what they had. These people begin to change their speech also. They start to use words they never used before but decided to now because it's " cool" or "other people say it so I can too."

Very quickly they change their own personality and the things that make them who they are. All of a sudden they are no longer their own special person, but they are now a "carbon-copy" of someone else! Now they have changed they very people God created them to be . I confess that I am sometimes like this also.

But now there is a new person to belike! There is a new person to model after! There is a new person to conform to! This person is Jesus Christ. He is the ultimate person to become like to conform to! Jesus is the ultimate attraction because of His self-giving. He holds nothing back! He is a hero! He went to death for us so we could be free! Now this is someone to conform to! This is someone we should strive to be!

We should all become like Christ because his Father is the very person who created us to be ourselves and to follow His Son. We shouldn't be someone we are not, but someone that we are. We are children of God, born and raised to worship Him, adore Him and conform to Him! So we have to accept Him into our hearts and be His people that we were created to be. We are called to be children of God!